Hospitals across Iran are struggling to cope with a surge of patients as large-scale anti-government protests continue to spread nationwide, medical workers said. Emergency wards of multiple hospitals, including in Tehran, are reporting “bodies piled on top of one another” following a violent crackdown by security forces.
At Poursina Hospital in Rasht in northern Iran, 70 bodies were brought in on Friday night alone. A hospital source said the morgue reached full capacity, forcing staff to remove bodies to make space. “The bodies were placed on top of one another,” she said, adding that after the morgue filled up, bodies were stacked in the hospital's prayer room.
A medic at a Tehran hospital told the BBC that many young protesters arrived with fatal gunshot wounds. “Around 38 people died, many as soon as they reached the emergency beds,” she told the BBC, adding they couldn't even perform CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on them. “There were direct shots to the heads of the young people, to their hearts as well. Many of them didn't even make it to the hospital.”
According to the hospital worker, most of those killed or injured were young. “I couldn't look at many of them,” she said. “They were 20 to 25 years old.”
A physician in Kashan said many protesters were shot in the eyes. A Tehran doctor told the BBC he saw a patient who had been shot in the eye, with the bullet exiting through the back of the head. “The number of injured people and fatalities was very high,” he said. In Shiraz, a medic reported that hospitals lacked enough surgeons to handle the volume of wounded patients.
Over 110 people have been killed and about 2,600 detained during this time, ABC News reported. Iran has been under a near-total internet blackout for four days, making independent reporting difficult.
The protests began in Tehran around two weeks ago over economic hardship and inflation, and have since spread to more than 100 cities and towns across all provinces. Footage circulating online shows large crowds in the streets, vehicles set on fire, and a government building burned in Karaj, near the capital. The Iranian army has said it will join security forces in protecting public property, amid reports that police forces are stretched thin.
Police denied that anyone was killed in Tehran on Friday night, though they said 26 buildings were set on fire. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “The Islamic Republic came to power through the blood of several hundred thousand honourable people and it will not back down,” as per Al Jazeera. In later remarks, he said the state would not hesitate to act against “destructive elements".
Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last Shah, called the protests “magnificent” and asked demonstrators to continue. “Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres,” he said in a social media video, adding that he was preparing to return to Iran.
